From Forbes.com:

Walking Away From A Business: Can We Still Be Friends?

By Kevin Meehan

For entrepreneurs, walking away after selling a business can be a lot like going through a breakup: some move on to the next stage in their lives quickly, while others struggle to find a new role. The situation becomes more complicated when a sale transaction includes a sort of post-relationship “friend zone” – a transitional period during which the founder gradually reduces his or her role while the new management team gets up to speed.

Unlike a breakup situation, though, most business owners don’t have the option of changing their post-separation relationship with the company on the fly after a sale. If a transitional period is necessary, it will be spelled out as part of a binding agreement – which means that sellers need to think about the terms of their continued involvement well in advance.

In my decades of experience working with business owners, I always advise potential sellers to take an honest look at themselves and their emotional needs – not just their financial ones – before beginning the separation process from their business in order to avoid a period of prolonged heartache.

1. Talk it out. Sellers should give themselves enough time to conduct detailed conversations with people they know and trust about their emotional and financial needs and goals before they begin negotiating anything binding. They may want to talk to their family members, obviously, but also consult others who know them well and have their best interests in mind: accountants, lawyers, financial advisors – even their priests, rabbis or other religious leaders!

2. Set clear boundaries. Once sellers have a solid sense of their needs and goals, they should work to ensure that the transition agreement includes terms and timetables that reflect the level of insight they’ve developed in point 1, and which clearly align with the relationship they want to maintain with the company during the transition.

These expectations should be clear on both sides from the outset. In one unfortunate example of how a transition can go sideways when this is not the case, a client of mine stayed on to operate the company he built after selling control to a larger firm. Although he believed the transitional agreement gave him considerable autonomy to continue to make decisions for the company, the new owners did not, and he was eventually let go when the two sides could no longer see eye-to-eye.

3. Keep moving forward. Transitional periods are not always easy for company founders. It can be wrenching to see their importance gradually diminish within their own businesses, even when they know it’s time to move on.

4. Give yourself options – including an early exit, if necessary. There are plenty of fish in the sea, as the saying goes. For entrepreneurs who are struggling to step away, getting involved with a charity, a post-career “encore” business, or any number of other endeavors may help ease the urge to re-engage in the day-to-day operations of their former business or expand their role beyond the boundaries of the transition agreement.

In this case, though, everything worked out in the end, as my client was able to repurchase the business and sell it under much more favorable terms a few years later!

For entrepreneurs, stepping away from a business is as much an emotional process as a financial or business decision, especially when there is a transitional period involved as part of the transaction. That said, each of us deals differently with separation and change, and it can be difficult to structure a transition that will meet the needs of the former owner at the same time that it positions the business for continued success. By following the steps above, business sellers can position themselves for a productive and fulfilling transitional process that helps them commence the next stage of their lives with confidence and a clear head.